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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/23638294">Everything Has Changed</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/artificialashley/pseuds/artificialashley'>artificialashley</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>RuPaul's Drag Race RPF</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>F/F, High School AU, Lesbian AU, crystal is clumsy and gigi is a perfectionist, rpdr, season 12, theyre neighbours, tw unconsented touching</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-04-13</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-04-13</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-02 20:13:30</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>5,546</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/23638294</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/artificialashley/pseuds/artificialashley</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Crystal has spent years watching her ex-best friend and next door neighbour, Gigi, rise to the top of their High School food chain, never even uttering a word to her as she waits for the bus each morning. What will happen when Crystal’s house floods and she finds herself sleeping on Gigi’s floor for a week?</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Crystal Methyd/Gigi Goode</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>14</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>127</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Everything Has Changed</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Hello again! I finally jumped on the s12 girls band wagon - hope you guys like. This plot really gave me 2013 Wattpad vibes but I decided to embrace and roll with it. Thanks sooooo much to Meggie for beta-ing! Concrit welcome. Xoxo Ashley</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>The day began as generic as any other for Crystal. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>A spurt of optimism filled her as she slurped down the last of her cereal and made her way outside - failing to notice the big splodge of milk that would be visible on her shirt until the fourth period. The sun was waving down on her, the slight hum of insects and the sight of her neighbour with a pair of shears at hand reminding her that spring was now in full bloom.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Morning Crystal,” the familiar voice called over the fence.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Morning!” She waved back at the woman who she would have once called a second mother, the auntie she had never had.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“When’s your mom back?” Maria asked as Crystal neared the end of the driveway. “I’m due a coffee date!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“A week on Friday.” Crystal smiled back at her, remembering the days when she and Gigi used to join them on their mothers' meetings, sipping lemonade and pretending to be sophisticated on the opposite side of the cafe. Remembering how Gigi would always make her laugh and she’d end off spitting her soda out anyway and ruining their facade.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Pulling her headphones out of her bag as she said goodbye, she looked up at the girl whose laugh was currently leaping around inside her head like a carousel, whose grinning face was a portrait in Crystal’s brain as clear as the lakes they used to play in.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Only now she wasn’t grinning quite the same.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Taking her usual seat at the bench, she glanced across at Gigi: her dark hair coiffed to perfection, her lips lined just at the right spot, her jet black beauty mark contrasting against her Snow White complexion. She was the type of girl who needed to be painted.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Their eyes met briefly, as they often did on mornings like this, Crystal darting hers away quickly in a chaotic manner and looking at her phone instead: seven twenty-seven. Her bus would be here in six minutes. Nicky would be here in three.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>For a split second, she thought she felt Gigi’s eyes looking back on her but she didn’t dare look.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Instead, she tried to think of ways that she could stop herself from reading the freckles on her old friend’s arm as if they were the dictionary definition of perfection. She thought about how Gig’s mascara may have been left on from the night before, of how she’d seen the straight-A student climb out of her window and down her drainpipe like Catwoman herself to steal away into the night. Of how the Gigi she knew in reality was anything but the flawless girl that was adored around the halls.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Seven-thirty. The familiar horn rang before Gigi went to sit shotgun in her best friend’s car. Crystal let out a breath she didn’t know she was holding along with a sigh of relief that the girl was out of sight and out of mind for the day.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Or at least until they had Chemistry together in the third period.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>***</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh my god,” Crystal spoke aloud, her body frozen for a second as she absorbed the scene in front of her.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Like something from a disaster movie, she watched as water sprayed from the enormous hole in her living room ceiling, her socks already damp through her trainers.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Her flight or fight reflexes kicking in, Crystal did the first thing her brain told her to do which was to run next door and ring their bell as many times as she could, managing to slip on her lawn and stain the knees of her jeans whilst doing so.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Hi?” Gigi looked Crystal up and down, her nose wrinkling with curiosity as she took in the other girl’s dishevelled state, her greeting more of a question than a welcome.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Hi.” Crystal paused, trying to think of how she could explain to Gigi that she’d simply walked through her front door after school into a foot of brown water, a smell that matched that description almost exactly, and a giant hole in the ceiling that was firing said brown water at her like an army missile.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Can I speak to your mom?” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>***</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Crystal felt her body relax slightly as she took a sip of the lemonade that was placed in front of her, a twinge of a feeling she couldn’t quite name gnawing at her when she realised that Gigi hadn’t asked what she wanted to drink, simply bringing her what had always brought comfort as a child.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She felt simultaneously overwhelmed and comforted by the sight around her, Gigi sitting in her usual seat as her hands toyed with the couch cushions. Only now an elephant sat between the pair of them, an awkward silence taking over every last air molecule in the room.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Memories flooded back to her as she let her eyes wander: the mantlepiece she had chipped her tooth on, the doors they would prance through as they pretended to be contestants on </span>
  <em>
    <span>America’s Next Top Model</span>
  </em>
  <span> once everyone was asleep.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Crystal felt her hands starting to sweat, rubbing them against her jeans rather frantically. She’d always managed to cope on a morning or in school - sure, sometimes the sight of Gigi sent her into a spiral of self-doubt and questions, but it was never something completely out of her control, never something that bothered her to such a great extent.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Maybe it was that she’d lost the privilege of her headphones to distract her from her past.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Maybe it was how familiar her surroundings were.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Maybe it was how natural it had first felt as she sat in Gigi’s living room.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Just as she heard the other girl start to speak, attempting to cut the tension that wrapped around the pair of them like thick green vines, they were saved by Maria entering the room again, phone in hand.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“So, your hot water tank has burst!” She looked at Crystal and let out a frustrated laugh. “The plumbers are starting to clear up now but they think it’s going to take a full week. I’m sorry sweetie. I’ve called your Mom and she’s happy for you to stay here with us and is going to try to leave her conference early.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Maria went on to talk about getting essentials after the day's work was finished and the logistics of their insurance but it soon became a gust of wind that swept right over Crystal’s head.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I don’t need to say here, don’t worry!” Crystal smiled at Maria, grateful for her generosity but feeling the prick of tears at the back of her eyes daring to fall. Her eyes looked absolutely anywhere but at Gigi. “I can always go visit my family in Missouri for a week, I haven’t seen them for a while.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I dunno how your mom would feel about you missing a week of school, this is senior year now.” Maria placed a tentative hand on Crystal’s, clearly sensing the anxiety that was shooting out of her like flaming arrows. “Don’t stress! Think of it as one long week-long sleepover. Just like old times!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Crystal couldn’t tell if she was trapped in heaven or hell but she knew one thing for sure, it wouldn’t be like old times.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>***</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Crystal found it strange how Gigi’s bedroom was so similar to how it was when they were younger, yet simultaneously different in certain, striking ways.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The antithesis to Crystal’s walls of clutter, Gigi’s room had always been pristine and that hadn’t changed. Placed on her dressing table were framed photos of her and her friends, one of her and Nicky catching Crystal’s eye.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She’d never grown close to Nicky. Even though a part of Crystal disliked her for the shit music she blasted from her sports car and for stealing away her best friend - the other, more loving side of her told her that Nicky didn’t really seem to have a bad bone in her body and that she must be fun if Gigi was so fond of her.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Crystal always found herself trusting Gigi’s judgement even though they were no longer friends, even though that judgment was cast badly upon herself.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Her eyes made their way to the other side of the room, a warm, fuzzy feeling taking over her body as she looked at Gigi’s huge world map that hung in front of her.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Pink pins for where she’d been and blue pins for where she wanted to go. Missouri caught her eye, bright pink straight away, Crystal remembering how excited Gigi had been to change its colour after she had joined one of her visits home in the holidays, how interested she was in exploring the lakes that raised Crystal. She knew Gigi would always be an explorer, it was just a shame that she was no longer the trusty navigator that bounced by her side.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Before she knew it, her hands were running across the books on Gigi’s shelves, stopping on her worn-out copy of </span>
  <em>
    <span>Emma</span>
  </em>
  <span>.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She never hated Gigi for the fact they were not friends anymore. She knew it happened to loads of pairs like themselves, that it's natural to drift apart at high school and find different interests. Crystal often prided herself on being mature and understanding, knowing that sometimes there were deeper things in other people’s minds that she just had to accept. Yet at that moment, she couldn’t deny that the sight of the last birthday present she had bought for Gigi sitting front and centre, it’s pages worn and dog-eared, happened to sting that tiny bit.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It’s not a museum,” Gigi snapped at her from across the room, only for her own face to fall a little when she saw Crystal’s - the slap of instant regret bright red on her cheeks.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Sorry.” She moved over to the bookshelf, pulling the copy out and holding it in her manicured hands as though it were made of papier-mache. “Can you remember I used to take it out at the library so much? You gave it to me and told me it was so I never had to hide it to stop anyone else borrowing it anymore.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Crystal’s heart dipped a whole centimetre in her chest.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Of course she remembered.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Silence enveloped the pair yet again as Crystal’s makeshift bed was constructed on the floor, a look on Gigi’s face that Crystal couldn’t quite piece together. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Trying to fight the awkwardness, Crystal pulled out her phone and began to scroll down her </span>
  <em>
    <span>Instagram </span>
  </em>
  <span>feed aimlessly, no one she could message even springing to her mind.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh my god, we cannot do this all week,” Gigi blurted out what she’d been trying to contain all in one breath, causing Crystal to laugh at the girl’s inability to remain silent for any given period of time. And before she knew it Gigi was laughing too, the pair almost automatically falling back into that lull that once fell so naturally. Chatting more and more naturally as the drama of </span>
  <em>
    <span>Top Model</span>
  </em>
  <span> made up their background music.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>There, underneath the plastic demeanour, was Crystal’s old best friend.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>***</span>
</p><p>
  <span>At first, Crystal didn’t know where she was when she woke up, her body feeling awkward in her jeans. But her confusion slid away at the sight of Gigi at her dressing table, applying the daintiest amount of blush to her pale cheeks.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Looking down she realised she was in Gigi’s bed rather than the one made up for her on the floor, assuming that she must have drifted off whilst watching their show.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Good morning, camper.” Gigi raised an eyebrow in her mirror and grinned, never fully turning around to look at Crystal.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Morning.” She stretched her arms in the air, the fact that Gigi must have tucked a blanket around her whilst she slept hitting her like a tonne of bricks. “What time is it?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Quarter past seven.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh. That’s no good!” Crystal jumped out of the bed and began rummaging through her case quite rapidly, Gigi chuckling under her breath at the way Crystal worked as a poster girl for the chaotic good character, clearly seeing some form of adorable in the other girl’s frustration.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Pulling a leopard print shirt out of her bag, Crystal quickly removed yesterday’s jumper and spruced herself up for the day ahead, finding some blue jeans to match and throwing them on whilst Gigi carried on with her makeup in the mirror, her eyes flickering back and forth.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I think my Mom made some breakfast if you have time. Nicky’s coming for me soon…” She trailed off almost in a defensive way, her eyes glossing back down to the palette in front of her.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah,” Crystal responded, not sure on what she was agreeing with, before starting to pack her bag for the day. “I don’t want to miss the bus, I guess I’ll see you later.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Maybe things hadn’t changed as much as she’d thought.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>***</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Ugh.” Crystal found herself longing to throw her pencil across the room in a fit of rage as she failed the seventh time to do the chemical equation in front of her.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You know, I’m currently sitting at an A in Chemistry.” Gigi waved her hands in the air at the girl from her bed, dog-earing the corner of her book and casting it aside.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I don’t need you to do my work for me!” Crystal squealed as she moved the paper away from Gigi’s peeping eyes, determined to finish the question.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>This was now her third night in the Goode household and she was starting to scare herself at how easily she fell back into place with Gigi when no one else was around. They had spent the past few days catching each other up on their lives, watching crap TV and just being together.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>It was safe to say that Crystal was starting to see the beams of a happier Gigi shine through the cracks, a Gigi who wasn’t afraid to be rough around the edges. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>But her hopes were kept low each morning when they parted their usual ways at the social jungle of their high school.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m not saying I’ll do it for you, I’ll just help.” Gigi moved closer and Crystal could feel the warmth of her body on her own. The tiniest contact sending her brain in circles.“Besides, I did this three days ago; I don’t know why you’re hiding the questions.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Okay, but only if we do something fun after.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Actually.” Gigi paused and gave Crystal the grin of an excited puppy. “I have the perfect game to make up some lost time.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>***</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’ll start.” An idea popped into Crystal’s head as she turned to face Gigi with excitement. “Number one: where do you go when you sneak off in the middle of the night?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Do you spy on me?” Gigi opened her jaw wide, causing Crystal to go into panic mode before releasing she was simply playing. “Sometimes it’s to meet people by the quarry and have a drink. Sometimes I just like to go get some fresh air alone.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Crystal could sense she wasn’t getting a full answer but didn’t want to pry, preparing herself for what she’d be asked.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Hmm.” Gigi giggled to herself as she gave Crystal a once over. Crystal could almost see the lightbulb pop out of her pretty little head when she thought of a question. “Number two: do you think Mr. Charles has a crush on you?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Taking Crystal by surprise, it took her a minute to gain her composure. “What sort of question is that?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“A genuine one!” Gigi tried to pull a straight face. “I see the way he’s always staring at you, putting his hand in your hair when he checks your work.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh my god, you’re disgusting.” Crystal smacked the other girl with a pillow resulting in the biggest scene of dramatics she’d witnessed since their school's production of </span>
  <em>
    <span>Les Mis</span>
  </em>
  <span>.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The questions began to roll one after the other, starting off as fun and light-hearted.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Where do you even sit at lunch?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>…</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Pasta or pizza?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>….</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“When did you lose your virginity?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>….</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Was Poland as good as you thought it would be?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>…</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Do you remember our time capsule?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>…</span>
</p><p>
  <span>But as the sky outside started to darken, their subject matter deepened. It has reached that time of night where boundaries dilapidated and unbreached territory began to be uncrossed.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Number 10.” Crystal paused, building up the courage to finally breach the topic the pair has shied away from all week. “Was it because everyone called me a dyke? Is that why we’re not friends?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Crystal watched as her friend winced - wishing so much that she could just pretend that period had never occurred and never to speak about it, but knowing that it was a bridge both she and Gigi needed to cross and it would be much better if they could cross it together, stopping each other from falling between the jagged planks.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Partly, yeah.” Gigi nodded and looked Crystal in the eyes.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Really, really looked into her eyes.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I don’t think I thought that at the time, I told myself we just had different interests. But I think that sometimes I just get so caught up in what people think about me, I get lost in what’s right and wrong. I’ve just always wanted to be ‘perfect.’ I lost sight of what that even meant. But I never, ever cared what you thought about me. Not in that way, at least…” She trailed off and Crystal placed a comforting hand over hers, letting her know that she was loved. “I’m so sorry.” A single tear fell down her face. The first time Crystal had seen her cry since they were seven. “Do you hate me?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No.” Crystal squeezed her hand tighter.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>It was the truth. Even though sometimes she wanted to, she couldn’t have ever hated Gigi even if she tried. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>She knew that her actions were wrong, she knew that she couldn’t make excuses for not being there, for not trying to stop it. She knew that things wouldn’t magically click back to how they used to. But she also knew that Gigi was sorry.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Scars took time to heal.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>And they’d still be visible even once they had.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>But people say they only make someone stronger.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“If I was you, I think I’d hate me. Feel free to slap me if you want.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Do you really want me to slap you?” Crystal raised an eyebrow to the girl.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No.” Gigi sighed. “And you just wasted your question.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Fuck sake.” Crystal found herself blushing for no apparent reason. She guessed that Gigi just brought out the nervous side of her sometimes.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Number thirteen: what does your tattoo say?” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Crystal was a deer in the headlights.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Her tattoo - the most genius yet idiotic idea she’d ever had in her life.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Aged 16, still reeling in that high you get from a gig with a fake ID at the ready.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Somewhere nice and hidden where hardly anyone would see, figuring she’d never have to explain it to anyone she wasn’t intimate with, always having the open option to lie about it’s meaning to save embarrassment.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>But Gigi had seen it.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She thought of the past few days when they’d both been getting ready for school.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Never really processing it herself, she had peaked at Gigi’s body - slight glances at the way her ribs and clavicle jutted out through her skin.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She didn’t realise Gigi had been looking back.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“</span>
  <em>
    <span>One Direction</span>
  </em>
  <span>,” she responded after what was probably a longer than socially-acceptable pause.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“</span>
  <em>
    <span>One Direction</span>
  </em>
  <span>?” Gigi exclaimed back, wrinkling her nose and opening her mouth wide at the girl.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yes.” Crystal replied seriously, trying to stop the laugh from slipping through her lips. “</span>
  <em>
    <span>One Direction</span>
  </em>
  <span>.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“That is weird on so many levels, Crystal.” Gigi shook her head and started to laugh. “You mean to tell me that when you sit on the bench with that unapproachable look on your face wearing black eyeliner thicker than your wrists, you’re blasting </span>
  <em>
    <span>Truly, Madly, Deeply</span>
  </em>
  <span> from your headphones?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yep,” she simply stated. Strangely it had never occurred to her before that as she made hidden glances at Gigi each morning, Gigi was taking them back just the same.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Crystal Elizabeth Methyd, you never fail to surprise me.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>***</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You don’t need to feel bad about leaving me, I’ve got stuff to do,” Crystal pleaded as Gigi scavenged through her closet like an excited child with their first-ever Barbie doll.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>It was Thursday night and the end of Crystal’s impromptu vacation in the Goode household. Her typical night consisted of homework, pizza, and reading old </span>
  <em>
    <span>Wattpad</span>
  </em>
  <span> stories until four AM.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Gigi had different ideas.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“How many parties have you been to in high school?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“None,” Crystal answered, not even attempting to slip out a lie.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Exactly,” Gigi replied before settling on a pink latex dress and throwing it in Crystal’s direction.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You don’t have to feel guilty about me missing out, I’ve never wanted to and we have school tomorrow!” Crystal examined the dress, her eyes widening at the thought of how much skin it would show.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Maybe I just want you there.” Gigi stopped as she settled on her own dress. “Maybe I just enjoy your company.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Crystal didn’t need to be told twice.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Fine.” She responded, resulting in some excited squealing and hand-clapping from the other side of the room. “But I just can’t wear this.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Sure you can, just undo the zipper, step into it, put your arms through the sleeves and do it back up again. It’s not that hard. I can help if you’d like?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Crystal tried hard not to give her the satisfaction of a laugh but once again failed. “You know what I meant.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“At least try! I spent good money on that and it hangs off my body. You’ve got the curves to fill it at least.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Trying her hardest not to blush, Crystal gave in and tried the dress on, surprising herself at how good it actually looked.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“See!” Gigi motioned her hands up and down at Crystal’s body. “I know these things.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>It was safe to say that Crystal was waiting for the day she’d win one of her verbal battles with Gigi Goode. Yet she was never really that annoyed when she lost them.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>***</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Although a small part of her wished she was curled up in bed with a bag of M&amp;Ms watching a movie, Crystal was enjoying herself. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Yes, she had spent the majority of the night by Gigi’s side, dancing like idiots and watching people hook up, but she still found herself branching out in smaller ways, taking as many steps as her size fives could - partly because she wanted to and partly because of the smile she saw on Gigi’s face as she conversed with Nicky and the other girls. Although still sceptical around them, Crystal was happy finding common ground with Gigi’s friends, even seeing a goofy side of Nicky that she didn’t even know was there.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Distracted by her thoughts, she hadn’t even realised there was someone next to her at the punch bowl until he spoke.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Have we met?” He looked Crystal up and down with a smile.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Yes, she thought to herself. We have around 10 hours of class together each week. But being polite and trying her hardest to make friends she didn’t dare say that aloud. “I think I’ve seen you around, I’m Crystal.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Josh.” He took her hand and shook it, holding on for maybe a second longer than normal. “Bit less exciting than Crystal.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“My mom was really into Pokemon during her pregnancy,” she responded. However, before her joke could be processed she felt the red punch from the boy's hand splash across her front.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh my god, I’m so sorry.” He looked at Crystal apologetically before rushing to grab a dishtowel. “I hope I’ve not stained your dress.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It’s Gigi’s so I think you’d be feeling her wrath rather than mine.” Crystal went to reach for the towel only for the boy to start wiping away at her front.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh, I can do that.” She went to swat his hand away when they were interrupted by a familiar cough.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“God, Gigi, you ought to keep that one on a leash.” One of her friends muttered under their breath, just loud enough for Crystal to hear and take a step backwards.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She watched her friend's face turn at the sight, watched her mouth open and close twice before she spoke. “Do you mind moving away from my friend?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Gigi, it’s fine,” Crystal responded as the boy she was talking to leapt away from her and raised his hands in the air. “I can handle myself.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Nicky will drop you off home.” She ignored Crystal’s words before turning to leave the room. “I think I’m gonna walk.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Wait.” Crystal shouted after her as she made her exit, just the two of them standing in the large foyer, Gigi haphazardly raking around for her snakeskin jacket. “I was just being friendly, I don’t see the problem.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“That’s because you’re naive. You let people take advantage of you.” Gigi turned to face Crystal, finally finding her jacket and slinging it over her thin frame. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Or maybe you’re just a jealous bitch who can’t deal with the attention being on someone else for a second.” Crystal spat back at her, shocking herself with her words.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>It was a word that had floated around a lot since Gigi became popular but it had never quite reached the surface. She knew Gigi wasn’t a bitch - remembering the time she spent seven hours making her a friendship bracelet in all her favourite colours, the time they went to the theme park and they rode all the scary rides even though Gigi was terrified of them, just so her friend would be happy. She knew her intentions were good in scaring the boy away, a part of her just wished that Gigi would stop looking at her like the lost puppy she was in freshman year. But that’s what came out of her mouth, and she couldn’t take it back now.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She watched Gigi stop in her tracks. Bending down and resting her body on the shoe rack below her.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m sorry.” Crystal went to join her side. “I didn’t mean that. I know you mean the best, I just don’t need you to defend me.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You’re right,” she spoke, clear frustration seeping from somewhere deeper than their current argument, a small crack in her voice. Once again Crystal had hit the wall in Gigi that she was yet to break down. “I just want you to understand.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Then help me to.” Crystal reached a hand out to her, squeezing, once, twice.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>At first, she remained still, but Crystal then saw the switch flip. Gigi squeezed back.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I need to steal a shovel.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>***</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The sky around the pair was still dark, their two phone torches shining down on the route that their feet had danced across so many times.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Although Crystal knew that they should probably wait till morning and that Maria would probably realise they were gone, she didn’t want to sacrifice Gigi opening up to her, her heart beating faster and faster as they walked through the meadow.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m pretty sure there’s still another six years till we’re supposed to dig this up.” Crystal shivered, the side effects of the punch she drank starting to wear off. “I can’t believe Gigi Goode is voluntarily breaking rules!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Shut up.” She gave Crystal a friendly punch before taking off her coat and wrapping it around her friend's shoulders, Crystal still feeling a pang of guilt for the way she spoke to Gigi at the party, knowing that she had been nothing but kind to her the past week they had lived together.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Here.” Crystal stopped, pointing at the signpost marking their spot, remembering the day they buried their time capsule as if it were yesterday.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>***</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Is this a report card?” Crystal laughed as she shone her torch at the paper in front of her.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh my god, yes!” Gigi took the paper in her hands. “I didn’t want my Mom to find out I got a C in music class.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Classic Gigi.” Crystal sighed.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Pulling out the friendship bracelet she had made years before, Gigi gasped before grabbing Crystal’s arm and sliding it on. “As if it still fits.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>As the girls waded their way through cinema tickets and keyrings, they found themselves falling back into their old selves more and more - getting lost in conversation as the night faded away and the sun started to rise.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I don’t remember this being in here.” Crystal pulled out a photograph of the pair of them in Missouri, aged fourteen, grinning like idiots on Crystal’s grandma’s porch.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Flipping it over, she recognised Gigi’s sophisticated scrawl on the back::</span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>This week I finally got to go with Crystal when she visited home. It was so amazing because I hate it so much when she isn’t here, nothing is fun. When I’m with Crystal I don’t have to be perfect - I wish we could grow old together, just the two of us in our own land away from everyone else, everything would be so, so much easier.</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>There was more but Crystal stopped, looking up to her best friend’s nervous face to realise it was blurry. She hadn’t even realised she was crying.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Crystal.” Gigi wiped her tears away with her thumb, only leaving her hands on her friend's cheeks once she was done.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>They were freezing yet it made Crystal’s whole body burst up in flames.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Crystal thought of all the sleepless nights and daydreams where she’d pictured this moment.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Somehow it was better than all of them combined.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Their lips touched, soft at first, gentle, afraid to hurt each other. Then their kiss grew deeper, it was hungry, passionate, it had been locked in a cage for years and years only finally to be released.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Crystal didn’t know how long they’d been kissing for when Gigi pulled away, but she wouldn’t have minded if it had been forever.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I was scared. A scared girl who pushed you away instead of accepting who I was. It’s more, Crystal, you know it’s more. It’s always been more.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Crystal nodded, placing her hands on the girl's shoulders as she carried on her choked sentences.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“This past week, as corny as it sounds I didn’t just find you again, I found the old me.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Well, we’re both here to stay,” Crystal whispered before pulling the girl into another embrace which somehow dared to be better than their last. “Come on, you’re shivering, let’s get you home.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>***</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Crystal woke with the sun beaming through the window, her body perfectly entwined with Gigi’s.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>At first, she thought she had dreamt it: their kiss at the meadow, the way she went to sleep on the floor and felt Gigi’s arm drop down from her bed, her breasts soft as silk and her moans sending Crystal insane. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>But the way Gigi’s head nestled into her collarbone told her she hadn’t.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She wanted to freeze the moment in a frame and relive it forever - the fear hitting her that Gigi would act cool like it was no big deal.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She lay a kiss on her head before making her way for a shower - the first time all week that she hadn’t woken up to Gigi perfecting her makeup or already dressed- the perfect girl’s routine thrown out the window as she lay in bed.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>After returning from the shower, she noticed Gigi was awake, rushing to get ready.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“C’mon.” She looked Crystal up and down. “We’ll be late.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>***</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Crystal’s palms became heavy with sweat as she sat next to Gigi on the bench. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Maybe she regretted it. Maybe it was some sort of sick joke. Why hadn’t she spoken about it? Was she being off with her, or was she just tired?</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Crystal felt sick, checking her phone for the time: seven twenty-five.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She couldn’t wait till Nicky got here, the sight of Gigi’s face next to her sending her brain into spirals of existentialism.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She thought about this time on Monday. How much had changed in a week? Or in reality how much it had gone back to the way it was before.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Whatever would happen next she just thanked God/the man who fitted her water heater that at least it happened - the love bite on her neck marking that no one could take this away from her.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Maybe Gigi would go further in denial - Crystal watched her as she tapped her foot on the ground.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Are you not gonna give me a headphone?” Gigi smiled at her, snapping Crystal’s mind of doubt back to reality, feeling Gigi’s hand fall onto her thigh. “I fancy some </span>
  <em>
    <span>One Direction</span>
  </em>
  <span>.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Pulling her phone out in excitement, Crystal’s mood quickly dipped back as she read the time: seven twenty-nine.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Nicky will be here for you in a minute.” She gave a disheartened smile and put her phone back in her pocket.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh.” Gigi moved her hand over the top of Crystal’s and grinned. “I told her not to come, figured I ought to get the bus today.”</span>
</p><p><br/>
<br/>
<br/>
</p>
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